Activities

10-17-06 FWD attends the USFWC national conference in NY

FWD had 3 representatives at the National Worker Cooperative Conference October 13-15, 2006 in New York City. A copy of the press release follows:

Workers waking up Wall Street

OCT. 17, NEW YORK CITY Nearly 300 worker co-op members and their allies met in Manhattan last weekend. The occasion: the First Annual Meeting of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and the Second National Conference on Workplace Democracy.

Most events took place at the Millennium High School on Broad Street, within sight of the New York Stock Exchange and just a few blocks from where the World Trade Center used to stand.

The school, the first public high school for Lower Manhattan, occupies several floors of an office building. It was created with post-9/11 federal reconstruction funds and money raised by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and others.

Last June, many members of Millenniun's first graduating class were the first members of their families to get a high school diploma or go on to college.

"What better place to create a twenty-first century economy, one based on democracy and cooperation?" asked worker co-op conference organizer Melissa Hoover.

Diversity is the key

The conference attracted delegates from Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Canada and across the U.S. Attendees were of diverse ethnic backgrounds, and wore everything from high heels to combat boots, dreadlocks to Mohawks, jeans and tees to suits and ties.

“We brought together the most diverse group of cooperators I’ve ever seen to talk about worker cooperatives as vehicles for economic justice,” said Hoover. “That’s why we held it in New York.”

There are at least several hundred worker cooperatives in the United States, no doubt many more. But until recently they have made little attempt to organize. Part of the reason is, while housing, electric and other types of co-ops share many interests and issues in their industry sector, worker co-ops span the entire business spectrum.

For example, among those present at Millennium High were member-owners of Union Cab in Madison, Wisconsin and Citybikes in Portland, Oregon; Inkworks Press in Berkley, California and Collective Copies in Amherst, Massachusetts; Long Island Home Enterprise and Ithaca Biodiesel in New York; Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco and Langdon St. Café in Montpelier, Vermont.

The program exhibited diversity too, as it aimed to offer substance to both newcomers and veteran cooperators. Sessions touched on co-op organizing in New Orleans, rural and urban models of homecare worker co-ops, immigrants and worker co-ops, and more.

Connections, a women's worker co-op from Rhode Island, provided Spanish interpretation for all the workshops and plenaries. Even the party at the Brecht Forum on Saturday night offered diversity: live hip hop, folk rock, reggae and Puerto Rican bomba music.

New York Co-ops host visits

For the truly dedicated, the weekend began Friday morning with site visits to local worker co-ops scheduled throughout the day. Leading the itinerary was Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) in the Bronx, the nation's largest worker cooperative with more than 1,000 members, most of them low-income women of color.

CHCA provides wages at 20% above industry average, while providing many education and advancement opportunities. 40% of the company’s administrative staff were once care-providers, who also hold the majority of seats on the cooperative’s board of directors.

Also on the site tour were Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC-NY) and Colors, the lower Manhattan restaurant it started, owned by former employees at Windows on the World, at the top of the World Trade Center. The venerable Rene Pujol's, a well-known Theater District dining spot, now worker-owned, also hosted a visit as did Bluestockings, a radical bookstore on the Lower East Side.

National Co-op CEO welcomes workers

Colors hosted the opening reception where conference participants and presenters were welcomed by Paul Hazen, CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA).

Hazen addressed the importance of "cross-sector" communication and cooperation among the various types of co-ops. These include consumer-owned housing, food, and utility co-ops,

agricultural producer groups, purchasing co-ops, worker-owned companies and credit unions (legally, depositor-owned financial services co-ops).

Hazen encouraged his listeners to "market the cooperative advantage" which, according to Gallup and numerous other surveys, is the trust the public places in co-op businesses.

The NCBA chief officer cautioned those in attendance that the legal road ahead for cooperatives will best be navigated by building solidarity and he applauded the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives for its determination to unite at the national level.

Referring to threats to cooperative enterprise such as the banking industry’s escalating challenge to credit unions or last year's hearings on non-profit tax treatment by Congress' Ways and Means Committee, Hazen warned: "No cooperative is exempt from this kind of attack today, [but] a strong grassroots network, committed to the cooperative form of business, will bring together key advocates from all sectors to build engagement in support of cooperatives.

"This way," the CEO of the nation's broadest co-op association continued, "any time there is a threat we will have a network of advocates ready to respond." Attendees were ncouraged to fill out the forms from NCBA for anyone wishing to become such an advocate.

Federation grows, local to national

The mission of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives is to pursue their common interests and to grow the worker co-op sector, as well as to support the regional workplace democracy associations (the oldest is the Western Worker Cooperative Conference that meets each year in Breitenbush) and a growing number of local alliances of worker co-ops and cross-sector cooperatives.

The Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives or NoBAWC (pronounced 'No boss') located in San Francisco is one of these. It has around 30 member co-ops who exchange information, collaborate on events and purchasing, and conduct business with one another.

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops (VAWC) in western Massachusetts is another regional group that is growing fast. Boston-based WORC'N has been around for several years. Cross-sector cooperative initiatives include the Vermont Alliance of Cooperatives. The Federation of Workplace Democracies – Minnesota (FWD-MN) also operates at the state level.

New York hosts historic founding meeting

Building solidarity among worker co-ops began about a decade ago on the West coast, and slowly made its way East. By 2004, three strong regional associations had formed, and in the

Spring of that year they met in Minneapolis to create the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. As recently as last summer, there were not quite 20 paid-up Federation member organizations. In New York City last week, more than 50 co-ops and cooperative development non-profits convened the founding Annual Membership Meeting.

It was not a scripted presentation, but an earnest work session where member delegates hammered out the language of the documents that will enable the Federation to grow and prosper. Observers noted that it should come as no surprise that worker-owners of successful businesses would be ready, willing and able to move even such an ambitious agenda as theirs forward.

A grand finale: Argentina presente!

Not content to just wind down to some fond farewells, the weekend concluded with a screening of 'The Take' at Anthology Film Archives. The award-winning documentary is about the 2001 collapse of Argentina's economy and the subsequent emergence of a worker co-op movement which has played an essential role in helping thousands of Argentines rebuild their lives.

The film was shown by its Canadian producer Avi Lewis, who made it with a crew that included his wife, author-activist Naomi Klein. Rather than answer questions afterward, Lewis deferred to a trio of audience members who have lived the reality described in the film. The Argentine contingent was at the conference to share their experiences and insights in the formation of a powerful cooperative movement.

Afterward, Lewis described the event as emotional and extraordinary. “I think the endless applause for the Argentine workers was absolutely pregnant with possibility,” he said. "I know I cried. The spirit they brought with them invaded the room.”

One of the workers, Soledad Bordegaray, who is involved with the unemployed worker movement in Argentina, affirmed this connection. “We are coming from different situations, but finding common issues and a strong coincidence of our objectives,” she said.

“The world we live in," added la cooperativista argentina, gesturing to include all present, "doesn’t have an economic response, nor one for our hearts and spiritual needs.”

This weekend’s conference was an important and hopeful step toward the creation of a new world, one that can respond to all of humanity's needs, as worker co-ops of the world unite.

As they left Millennium High for the last time, about 100 participants walked up the street for a group photo in front of the New York Stock Exchange. "If not here, where?" the unlikely-looking group seemed to say as they threw their fists in the air. "If not now, when? If not us, who?"

9-21-06. Worker Cooperatives in Minnesota Receive Support for Education

The Federation of Workplace Democracies in Minnesota (FWD-MN or “Forward Minnesota” for short) received a $1000 grant, through the Seward Co-op Grant Program, to support the training of a cooperative developer who will share their skills with Minnesota worker cooperatives. FWD-MN, a regional network of worker cooperatives, plans to send a future cooperative development specialist to Madison, WI in November for their first installment of training through Cooperation Works (a national organization of 21 cooperative development centers, operating in 43 states). This support for worker cooperative education in Minnesota comes on the heels of $500 grant, from the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation, to support public education about the historical connection of credit unions and other cooperatives in Minnesota. FWD-MN took on its first educational programs shortly after its formation in 2004, assisted by a generous $5000 grant from The Cooperative Foundation.

Worker cooperatives are a unique business form, bringing together worker ownership and democratic control not available through other forms of employee ownership – like ESOPs. Minnesota worker cooperatives include businesses like The Hub Bike Coop, Local Roots Landscapers, and Eight Point Productions, in Minneapolis, Builders Commonwealth in Duluth, and teacher cooperatives throughout the state as part of the EdVisions Cooperative. Minnesota has a long history of worker cooperatives, dating back to the 1880s when the democratic businesses controlled a major stake in the budding industrial city’s barrel manufacturing sector.

Minneapolis has been a hub of worker cooperative organizing in the last five years, forming FWD-MN as a regional association – like others in Portland, Oregon, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004 the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives was founded in Minneapolis, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center, on the West Bank – the product of years of organizing from coast to coast. FWD-MN has joined the membership of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and is sending a delegate to the national associations meeting in New York City next month.

Recent support for worker cooperative education by local foundations and grant programs is an encouraging sign for FWD-MN, and speaks to a growing awareness of the importance of cooperative business models our economy.

FWD-MN thanks the Seward Co-op Grant Program for its generosity and its support.

8-11-06. FWD's Minnesota Regional Worker Cooperative Conference, Aug 11th-26th 2006: . This upcoming workshop series is open to members and the public. Workshops will range from introductory to advanced. With the variety of workshops available our goal is to have something for everyone.

Conference opening:
Fri., August 11th, 6-9pm
Minneapolis Coops of the 1970s - History exhibit at Seward Café
Free of charge; potluck; music by Dreamland Faces
Serving both as the kickoff party for the 2006 Minnesota Regional Worker Cooperative Conference, and a celebration of the 35th anniversary of North Country Coop, we present to you an historical exhibition of documents and artifacts from the local new wave coop movement of the 1970s. The show will hang from August 1-31, and features material from personal collections, North Country Coop's and Seward Café's archives, and from the Kris Olson collection at the Minnesota Historical Society.

Field Trips
Wed., August 16th, 2-6pm
Open House at Co-op Partners Warehouse
746 Vandalia, St. Paul
Free of charge; complementary food available
Due to increasing pressures in the last few years, the last of the cooperative warehouses in the Midwest have been sold off to a corporate "natural foods" conglomerate. Co-op Partners Warehouse is owned by the Wedge Coop, the largest natural foods coop in the Twin Cities, but is the only food warehouse retained, technically, in the local cooperative economy. This open house will tour the facility, and give attendees a chance to find out more about the future of cooperative food wholesaling in the Minnesota.

Sat., August 19, 2006, 12pm–5pm
Bohemian Flats Day
Free of charge; food available for purchase (brats and sauerkraut)
The 2nd Annual Bohemian Flats Day will be celebrated on the historic site of the old Bohemian Flats. In the area on the West Bank beneath the Washington Avenue Bridge many immigrants thrived from the early 1860s to 1932. The West Bank was home to a large immigrant workforce, making the area popular for labor rallies and other events. The Immigrant History Research Center, overlooking the site, holds records of these immigrants organizing efforts, including record of a radical labor college started by Finnish immigrants. This event is being organized by an independent group, but is included in this schedule in solidarity.

Conference closing:
Sat., August 26th, 3-6pm
Bicycle History Tour and Barbecue
Meet on the Stone Arch Bridge at 3pm to start
Suggested donation $1
Join us for a brief bike tour of cooperative and radical labor sites in Downtown and South Minneapolis, with some sites dating back to the 1880s. Each site will be described as we go, and there might even be some dramatic reenactments on location! The tour will end with a reception at North Country Coop with a barbecue on the West Bank near North Country Coop.

Workshops
All workshops are suggested $3-5 per person.
FWD workplaces may pay $20 for an unlimited pass for all workers during the conference.

Monday, August 14, 6:30-8:00pm
Creating a Marketing Plan
North Country Coop – Back Office
presented by Erik Esse – North Country Coop
Find out how to create and implement a marketing plan that works for your cooperative. The presentation will take a step-by-step approach at the planning process, and will be useful to worker coops in all lines of business. The workshop will end with a discussion of how different businesses might take on marketing together, to save costs and reach more potential customers.

Tuesday, August 15th, 6:30-8:30pm
Cooperative Conversion: An Ideal Model for Retaining Jobs in Business Succession
St. Martin's Table, corner of 20th and Riverside in Minneapolis
presented by: Tom Pierson – Education Director, FWD-MN
Business owners interested in passing on ownership to a local buyer can convert to a worker cooperative and save up to 100% on capital gains tax. Find out more about the IRS 1042 rollover option for converting a business to a worker cooperative, see a step-by-step example of how it happens, and learn about support organizations that can assist with legal and financing for these conversions.

Wednesday, August 16th, 6:30-8:30pm
Introduction to Finances
Seward Community Café – 2129 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis (Back Door)
Presented by Katie Manthey – North Country Coop, Tom Pierson – FWD-MN
Like a financial issues 101, this will be an overview of the basic elements essential to managing the finances of a business. This workshop will give attendees an introduction to the key concepts necessary for making informed financial decisions about their business.

Thursday, August 17th, 6:30-8:30pm
Cooperative Development: Lessons from Mondragón and Emilia-Romagna
Seward Community Café – 2129 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis (Back Door)
presented by Sean Doyle - Seward Coop, Tom Pierson – FWD-MN
Two powerful worker cooperative systems can be seen in Mondragón – located in the Basque region of Spain, and Emilia-Romagna – a north central region of Italy. An overview of how these regions have undertaken cooperative development will be presented, showing specific examples of their functioning and successes. Initial thoughts on how these models might be learned from, for the U.S., will be discussed – including ideas for specific initiatives. People from all backgrounds of experience are encouraged to attend.

Friday, August 18th, 5-7pm
Cooperatives Organizing Together
The Belfry Center – 3753 Bloomington Ave, Minneapolis
presented by Alex Betzenheimer - North Country Coop, Tom Pierson – FWD-MN
Using examples of cooperative federations and networks, this workshop will look at the advantages of cooperatives organizing together for mutual benefit. FWD-MN's current plans will be presented, and workshop participants will be asked to brainstorm ways the FWD plans should be changed and ideas for building off existing efforts.
Cooperative networks featured will include: TCNFC (Food Coops), Madison Community Cooperative (Housing Coops), NoBAWC + USFWC (Worker Coops)

Saturday, August 19th, 6:30-8:30pm
Legal Issues in Worker Coops
The Belfry Center – 3753 Bloomington Ave, Minneapolis
presented by Tom Pierson – FWD-MN
Worker cooperatives come in many shapes and sizes, and the legal definition of each business is unique, however there are common legal issues that each face. Most attorneys don't understand cooperative law, much less how to assist worker cooperatives – and government agencies tailor their training around corporations and sole proprietors and don't understand how to serve worker coops. Whether you're interested in starting a new business, or want to understand your existing worker coop better, this workshop will be a primer on how worker coops cope with legal hurdles. To get the most out of this workshop please come with specific issues for your coop in mind.

Monday, August 21st, 6:30-8:30pm
Introduction to Conflict Resolution
Seward Community Café – 2129 E Franklin Ave, Minneapoils (Back Door)
Presented by Miriam Eason – Seward Café (former collective member)
Outlining the basic elements of the conflict resolution process. This workshop will be helpful to those just getting into collectives and democratic workplaces to better understand the process and outcomes of conflict resolution.

Tuesday, August 22nd, 6:30-8:30pm
Strategic Planning
St. Martin's Table, corner of 20th and Riverside in Minneapolis
Presented by Alex Betzenheimer – North Country Coop
This will be an overview of the issues and techniques related to strategic planning. We will consider applications for coops of different sizes and industries. Also, different methods for involving people in the process will be discussed.

Thursday, August 24th, 6:30-8:30pm
Bookkeeping for Bookkeepers
St. Martin's Table, corner of 20th and Riverside in Minneapolis
Presented by Daniel Palahniuk – The Hub Bike Coop
This will be a chance for collective bookkeepers to get together and discuss their common problems and solutions. Explaining finances to a collective is one thing, but sometimes intervention is necessary, or sometimes the seat of the bookkeeper accumulates too much power and members are afraid to discuss financial issues - what do we do then, and what works in different situations? Whether you're struggling in your role, or totally comfortable, this discussion will be helpful to bookkeepers at all levels of experience and in all types of democratic workplaces.

Friday, August 25th, 6:30-8:30pm
Fuck Protests – Let's Learn!
The Belfry Center – 3753 Bloomington Ave, Minneapolis
discussion moderated by Katie Manthey and Matt Ryan - North Country Coop
Any efforts at local organizing for economic justice must involve ongoing and inclusive education. Katie and Matt will start a discussion on how people might gather together locally to effectively educate themselves about issues of economic justice, democratic work, and social change - using the model of a reading group. Particular titles from the FWD-MN Resource Library will be described, but attendees are encouraged to bring their own books, articles, or ideas. If there is interest, this discussion could result in the basic outline for starting an ongoing self-education group in the Twin Cities.

All Workshops are wheelchair accessible

FWD Discount Card
Workers at FWD member orgainizations will get discounts at other member businesses. The card is ready and is being sent out to member organizations soon.

Twin Cities worker coops receive a discount off the regular price of goods and services at other participating workplaces. Worker-members simply present their discount cards prior to purchase to receive their discount. Although most workplaces offer a 10% discount, some workplaces do not offer discounts while others offer discounts which vary from the 10% standard. Photo identification may be required prior to purchase.
The cards are reproduced every six months, to incorporate changes in policies and to give out promotional cards that have an expiration date.